1st grade bittersweet

My daughter is starting 1st grade tomorrow and I am so excited for her! I know she loves school, will make a ton of new friends, and will probably calm down a little. (She gets wild when there isn’t enough to keep her attention – i.e. Summer, when mommy and daddy still work even when she is home.)

I know I complained about the School Supply List a couple posts ago (and a few other moms agreed with me at the store!) but I am happy that I can provide what my child needs to help her have a successful year.

As a mom I am sometimes really hard on myself. I feel like if I can’t do it all, be supermom, that I’m not being a good enough parent. I come home and I should be able to whip up dinner, make sure homework is done, and bathe the kiddos all before 8. For this family, that just isn’t realistic, and that’s okay.

For example: This evening the kids were in the bath playing when Emmah starts shrieking. At first I thought she was just playing until Xander came running out yelling, “bwud, bwud, seester bwed.” Translate: Blood, blood, sister, bleed. So I go in to see what is happening.

He had accidentally step on her foot and caught the seed wart that is trying to heal…and nearly ripped the whole thing off. I haven’t seen that much blood on her since she busted her cheek two years ago.

And of course the second I go to help she shrieks louder because she is my little drama queen and a drop of blood means she is dying. 45 minutes later and I have cleared away the torn skin and cleaned and bandaged her little wound. The only reason it took that long was because she kept flailing her leg any time I even breathed on it. After that she was fine, but she goes into full blown panic any time medical attention is needed. It kills me.

All that to say, while I know I’m not supermom (even though that would be cool), I know I can feed my kids, clean their wounds, and help them with school. Even if it’s not by 8.